Unfortunately, many popular goals in nature are false and not worth the effort. For example, the desire for enrichment or the desire to become famous are futile and petty tasks that will not bring a person true spiritual harmony. I will prove this by citing examples from the literature.
In the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's “War and Peace”, one of the main characters was in search of himself and his destiny. But, unfortunately, his goals and ideas were based on what others would think of him. Andrei Bolkonsky strives to show himself, to take first place in the military ranks, to impress everyone with his glory and great feats. Before going into battle, Andrei admits that he is ready to sacrifice loved ones, kill a person, if only to achieve what he wants - a personal victory. But in the very first battle with the enemy, the hero is injured and his Napoleonic ideas are replaced by other landmarks. He understands that it is not his ambitions that are important, but the interests of the country and the whole people.
In Gogol’s poem Dead Souls, the hero wanted to become richer and more authoritative, to live on a big footing. However, he was poor and not particularly noble. Then he came up with a cunning fraud with fake mortgage-backed papers, where peasants who were already dead were listed as collateral. To do this, he traveled to villages and bought up “dead souls” in order to receive money on their bail. We see that his goal is not far and egoistic, therefore the means are base and vicious, imply deception, bribery and flattery. Chichikov achieved nothing but condemnation from society, because his actions, like his motives, are vulgar, petty, and dirty. He lives only for profit and consumption, therefore Gogol sees in him the most disgusting dead soul of all the examples he depicts.
Thus, fame, like wealth, is nothing more than a phantom that leads a person astray. It is necessary to set ourselves more ambitious and moral tasks. For example, educating people or saving people from disease and epidemics. All great minds choose only global goals and achieve them.
Pyramid principle
